JPH0628808U - SC type optical connector - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Abstract] [Purpose] To detect the coupling / uncoupling of the SC optical connector plug and adapter so that it can be used for on / off control of the laser drive circuit. An SC type optical connector including a plug having an insertion direction defining key protruding to a side surface and an adapter having a positioning groove into which the insertion direction defining key is fitted at the time of coupling, is fitted into the positioning groove in a predetermined state. A detector for detecting the combined insertion direction defining key is provided.

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

[Industrial applications]

 The present invention relates to an SC type optical connector having a plug having an insertion direction defining key protruding to the side surface and an adapter having a positioning groove into which the insertion direction defining key fits at the time of coupling, and particularly to the coupling / The present invention relates to an SC type optical connector capable of detecting release.

[0002]

[Prior art]

 When handling laser light sources, etc., it is desirable to have a function to automatically turn off laser oscillation when the optical connectors are disconnected in order to ensure the safety of workers.

Conventionally, as an optical connector, an FC type optical connector (Japanese Industrial Standard: JIS C 5970 F01 type single-core optical connector) as shown in FIG. 5 has been used. The FC optical connector A includes a plug A1 to which the optical fiber 1 is connected and an adapter A2 attached to the device. The plug A1 includes a ferrule 2, a metal (brass) connection nut 3, a rubber hood 4, and the like. Further, the adapter A2 is provided with two elastic electrical contacts 5 extending in the vicinity from the device to which the adapter A2 is attached (see FIG. 6). This electrical contact 5 is connected to a laser drive circuit on the device side (not shown).

In this FC type optical connector A, when the plug A1 is coupled to the adapter A2, the connection nut 3 simultaneously contacts the two electric contacts 5 to short-circuit the two, and thereby the laser drive circuit is provided. Operates and laser oscillation is performed. In this way, the laser is turned on automatically when the optical connector is coupled and turned off when the coupling is decoupled.

[0005]

On the other hand, the SC type optical connector (Japanese Industrial Standard: JIS C 5973 F04 type single-core optical connector) is intended to achieve higher performance and lower cost than the above FC type optical connector. It has been developed in recent years and is expected to be used in place of the FC type optical connector.

However, this SC type optical connector has a problem that it cannot be used for short-circuiting the contacts like the FC type optical connector described above because the material of the grip portion of the plug is plastic.

An object of the present invention is to provide an SC type optical connector capable of detecting coupling / uncoupling without impairing the optical connection function and exhibiting the same function as a conventional FC type optical connector. It is to be.

[0008]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

 To this end, the present invention provides an SC type optical connector comprising a plug having an insertion direction defining key protruding to the side surface and an adapter having a positioning groove into which the insertion direction defining key fits when coupled. A detector for detecting the above-mentioned insertion direction defining key fitted in a predetermined state is provided.

[0009]

【Example】

 Embodiments of the present invention will be described below. 1 is a separated side view of an SC type optical connector B of the first embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a separated plan view of the same. The plug B1 to which the optical fiber 1 is connected is provided with an insertion direction defining key 7 protruding to the outer surface at a portion of the knob 6 thereof. In addition, the adapter B2 is provided with a positioning groove 9 into which the insertion direction determining key 7 is fitted at the opening edge of the housing 8, and an electric switch 10 is attached to the rear side of the positioning groove 9. There is. In this electric switch 10, a pin 12 is attached to the tip of an operating lever 11 by welding or the like so as to face the inner side of the positioning groove 9.

In the SC type optical connector B of this embodiment, when the plug B1 is fitted into the adapter B2 and the insertion direction defining key 7 is inserted into the positioning groove 9, the pin 12 is inserted by the insertion direction defining key 7. Is pressed, the lever 11 is operated, and the contact of the electric switch 10 is turned on. Therefore, if the terminal of the electric switch 10 is connected to the on / off circuit of the laser drive circuit, the laser drive circuit is turned on by connecting the plug B1 to the adapter B2, and the connection is released. The laser drive circuit is turned off and safety measures can be taken.

When assembling the above-mentioned SC type optical connector B, the lever 11 of the electric switch 10 to which the pin 12 is joined in advance is prepared. Then, when the plug B1 is coupled to the adapter B2, the electric switch 10 is bonded to a predetermined position of the housing 8 where the pin 12 is pushed by the insertion direction defining key 7 to switch the contact. Here, there is a designed gap of about 0.8 mm between the insertion direction defining key 7 and the positioning groove 9. Even if a manufacturing error of about 0.3 mm is expected, the pin 1 2 If the diameter is less than 0.5 mm, it does not affect the connection of the optical connector. Naturally, the pin 12 is not limited to a round shape, and a plate-shaped one can also be used.

Next, an SC type optical connector C of the second embodiment is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4. FIG. 3 is a separated side view thereof, and FIG. 4 is a separated plan view thereof. The SC type optical connector C of this embodiment is composed of a plug C1 and an adapter C2, and the insertion direction regulating key 13 in which the height of the insertion direction regulating key 7 of the SC type optical connector B of the first embodiment is made higher. Is different from the SC type optical connector B in that the pin 12 is not used.

According to the SC type optical connector C of the second embodiment, if the insertion direction defining key 13 is fitted into the positioning groove 9 in order to connect the plug C1 to the adapter C2, the insertion direction The lever 11 of the electric switch 10 is directly actuated by the regulation key 13 to switch the internal contacts.

In this SC type optical connector C, when the plug B1 having the insertion direction defining key 7 having a normal height is coupled to the adapter C2, the contact of the electric switch 10 is not switched and the height is high. The contacts of the electric switch 10 are switched only when the plug C1 having the insertion direction defining key 13 is connected. Therefore, as an application example, when it is used for a high-power laser light source, it can be used for preventing accidents that mistakenly connect and damage parts that are sensitive to high power.

The electric switch described above is not limited to this, and a photoelectric switch may be used to optically detect insertion / removal of the insertion direction defining key into / from the positioning groove. That is, the plug insertion direction defining key is fitted into the positioning groove of the adapter in a predetermined state (a state in which optical coupling is normally performed in the optical connector itself), or it is detected that it has been pulled out from there and the electrical signal is detected. As a detector that outputs a signal, any of electrical, optical, magnetic, and other detectors can be used. Further, in the above embodiment, the light source is controlled by the detection signal from such a detector, but it is also possible to issue an alarm by pulling out the plug.

[0016]

[Effect of device]

 From the above, according to the present invention, the structure is such that a detector for detecting that the insertion direction defining key of the ordinary SC type optical connector is fitted in the positioning groove of the adapter in a predetermined state is added. Without deteriorating the optical characteristics of the optical connector, it is possible to reliably detect the coupling / uncoupling of the optical connector plug and the adapter, and it can be used for on / off control of the laser drive circuit.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an isolated side view of a partial cross section of an SC optical connector according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is an exploded plan view of the optical connector.

FIG. 3 is an isolated side view of a partial cross section of an SC optical connector according to a second embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an exploded plan view of the optical connector.

FIG. 5 is a separated side view of a conventional FC type optical connector.

FIG. 6 is a front view of the adapter of the optical connector.

[Explanation of symbols]

A: conventional FC type optical connector, A1: plug, A2: adapter, 1: optical fiber, 2: ferrule, 3: connection nut, 4: rubber hood, 5: electrical contact, B: SC type of the first embodiment Optical connector, B1: plug, B2: adapter, 6: knob, 7: insertion direction defining key, 8: housing, 9: positioning groove, 10: electric switch, 11: lever, 12: pin, C: second implementation Example SC type optical connector, C1: plug, C2: adapter, 13: high-height insertion direction defining key.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An SC type optical connector comprising a plug having an insertion direction defining key protruding to a side surface and an adapter having a positioning groove into which the insertion direction defining key is fitted at the time of coupling, wherein the positioning groove has a predetermined state. An SC type optical connector characterized in that a detector for detecting the above-mentioned insertion direction defining key fitted to is provided.